Pretty Smash Liars
by jhm64892
Summary: Based on the TV Series Pretty Little Liars. A clique of teenage girls drift apart after the group's leader, Daisy Parker, goes missing. Her body is found and the girls are reunited at her funeral. All four begin receiving text messages from the mysterious 'D', who seems to know many of the group's deepest secrets, some of which only the late Daisy had knowledge of.
1. If I Die Young

_**A/N – I realise that this is another new fanfiction and that I haven't finished any of my other stories but this is one that I've been wanting to do for a while and I finally started writing this chapter a couple of days ago. It is based off of the TV Series Pretty Little Liars and I've decided that Karen, Jessica, Daisy, Ivy and Ana are/were high school students in the time in which the story is set.**_

Karen Cartwright awoke with a start; she had been staying in her friend Jessica's barn along with three of her other friends: Daisy, Ana and Ivy. The five girls had gotten to know each other at high school when they'd been put into a group together for a science project and had been inseparable ever since. The group was like a pyramid: At the top was Daisy Parker, the red headed girl that every other girl wanted to be and every high school boy wanted to have. She had a way of making people part like the Red Sea in a corridor with one glance in their direction and god forbid it if you looked at her funnily. The next in the little hierachy was Jessica Foster, she was your type A over achiever whose biggest rival was her older sister Philippa, she knew she couldn't fail at anything because in the Foster family that just wasn't accepted. Next came Karen Cartwright who, for someone living in the Midwest, was rather alternative, a look that she'd completed with pink streaks in her hair and a small, barely noticeable stud in her nose. She was also relatively oxymoronic; although her hair and piercing made her appear to be the bitch from hell that no-one wanted anything to do with but in reality she had a heart of gold and a love of reading and music and not the dark kind of stuff either. Second to last in the pyramid came Ana, the 'jock' of the group because of her several national and state championship wins at dance competitions. Then came Ivy who just seemed average except for the fact that her mother had forced her to spend two of her summers at fat camp because of the 25 pounds of weight she'd put on after her parents messy divorce but her addiction to Ben and Jerry's proved to be too much for her to be able to lose weight. There was an unwritten covenant between them saying that if one girl was in trouble the others would help out, if Ivy had been caught trying to steal a magazine from the local grocery Daisy used her death glare to stop the store owner from pressing charges; if Ana had gotten drunk after losing a dance competition, the others covered for her the next morning saying that someone had spiked her drink; if Jessica failed a test she called Ivy to help her fake the results so that she could show her parents; if Karen was caught smoking a cigarette Ana would say that it was a dare and if Daisy say lit a stink bomb and threw it into Dennis Taylor's barn blinding his stepsister Emily, the girls all pretended like they knew nothing about it. Each girl knew each other's secrets and none of them ever told anyone else about them.

Karen sat up and looked around, only able to make out two of what should have been four figures. The first was the chubby figure of Ivy, her platinum blonde curls having fallen across her face in the night and the second was the atheltic figure of Ana who'd kicked off her sleeping bag at some point during the night. Karen made the conscious decision to get up and go to the large arched barn doors hoping and praying that it was just another cruel trick of Daisy's that they'd all laugh at in the morning but there was that awful, niggling feeling in the pit of her stomach that said otherwise. A couple of seconds later, Karen saw Jessica sprint towards her "Where's Daisy?" Karen asked, craning her neck around her friend wishing naiively that Daisy might just be crouched behind Jessica.

"She's gone," Jessica said in her typical matter of fact way, her shoulder length dirty blonde hair blowing about in the blustery wind.

"What do you mean gone?" Karen asked, a lump slowly starting to rise in her throat.

"I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find her. I think I heard her scream," Jessica replied numbly before collapsing into tears and Karen's hug, her face resting on the pink streaks of Karen's hair as she cried.

ONE YEAR LATER

Karen stood in front of her bedroom window looking out at the familiar view of the house opposite, surrounded by boxes. She wore a purple floral dress, the pink streaks had left her when she'd cut her hair into a short bob which had now grown to shoulder-length. She'd seen that morning's paper announcing that Daisy had been missing for exactly a year although why on earth the Davenport Times thought that the town needed to be reminded of it was beyond Karen's knowledge, but then again in a small place like Davenport, Iowa the disappearance of a teenage girl was big news, the fact that a year on she still hadn't been found made it even bigger news.

In the days and months since Daisy's disappearance Karen and her friends, the same group of girls who had been so close and taken the fall for each other each and everytime something happened had drifted apart. Karen partly blamed her father's acceptance of a tenure at the Sorbonne a month after Daisy's disappearance meaning that the entire Cartwright family upped and left for Paris hence the complete change in Karen's look. She knew it was wrong to blame her father's job for the disconnect she and her friends had felt and experienced. In reality, there were so many factors for it that it was impossible to count not the least of those factors being Daisy's disappearance.

"Karen, honey are you okay?" asked Elizabeth Cartwright in her normal lyrical tone from the doorway.

"Yeah it's just weird being back in Davenport is all," the young brunette told her mother as she went to sit on one of the boxes.

"Well, we _were _gone for eleven months, when you're a teenager that seems like a long time," Elizabeth pointed out as she crossed the room to sit beside her daughter.

"In the papers, they keep calling today the _anniversary _of Daisy's disappearance, like it's something that should have its own party," Karen told her mother regretfully before her sister, Caroline, was able to barge in "You just found out that cheerleading tryouts are today, didn't you?" she asked her little sister who would be starting her freshman year of high school within the next couple of days.

"Yeah, can you take me Karen? Please," Caroline requested using her best puppy dog eyes to plead with her sister.

"Okay," Karen sighed feigning hatred of the very idea of driving her sister to tryouts "Race you downstairs?" she suggested and the two sisters were off down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, they were met by their father who stopped Karen allowing Caroline to take the lead in the race "Are you okay being back in Davenport?"

"Yeah, still keeping your secret dad," Karen said with the typical teenager attitude she'd shown her father in the previous year and a half.

"I meant with everything with Daisy but okay," Roger Cartwright said as his eldest daughter rushed out the front door to her silver Prius her parents had bought her as a birthday present.

As the two sisters arrived at the school Karen was inclined to ask "What time am I picking you up?"

"I don't know five maybe," Caroline suggested as she exited the car.

Karen looked to the clock in her car, noting that it was half past two she grabbed her Iphone out of her bag and contemplated whether to phone her friends or not. She decided against it and instead drove to a dive bar she knew of on the outskirts of Davenport. When she got inside she stood at the bar and ordered herself a meal of steak and chips and a glass of Talisker Whiskey. "Interesting choice," a patron commented in a British accent before she could turn to face him.

"It's also an amazing cure for jet lag, I just got back from Europe yesterday," she told him.

"Europe? Where abouts?" he asked suddenly interested.

"France, Paris actually," she replied.

"Je suppose que vous parlez francais alors," he said in a perfect French accent.

"Oui, pas tres bien si, ou avez-vous appris a parler francais?" she said in her very bad attempt at French before looking at the bar's noticeboard and seeing the missing person's poster of Daisy, she looked exactly like Karen remembered her being, pretty and fun and flirty and realization hit Karen, the realization that while she had been in Paris and her other friends had been getting on with their lives Daisy was probably dead somewhere and it made her face fall and her head begin to hang.

"You okay?" the British stranger asked, a suspicious glint in his eye.

"Yeah, I just saw that poster of the missing girl, it's weird to think that one day you can be here and the next day gone," she clicked her fingers "Just like that," she finished regretfully.

"That's interesting," he said with a small smile.

"Do you teach here?" she asked noting his hazel eyes for the first time.

"Actually no, I just finished my teaching degree and I start my first teaching job tomorrow," he said a hint of pride in his voice.

"I-I considered teaching once, then I realised I was bad with people and figured that I should find a different career path," she said with a slight giggle directed towards herself. The song that had been playing in the bar changed to If I Die Young by The Band Perry and Karen mused to herself "God I adore this song," as the opening notes began to play.

_If I die young, bury me in satin__  
__Lay me down on a bed of roses__  
__Sink me in the river at dawn__  
__Send me away with the words of a love song_

"What's your major?" the stranger asked as Karen began to hum the song.

"Huh? Oh um, I'm considering music or drama or maybe doing a double major and do both ," she said, it wasn't a lie _exactly, _she was considering the two subjects quite seriously but she wouldn't be going to university for another two years, but the cute guy she'd just met in a dive bar didn't need to know that.

"That's weird I'm teaching drama this year," he told her.

"I-I mean I write as well, you know mainly songs and lyrics, little scribblings when I get inspiration but I don't think I'll ever release them, they're mainly just for me,"

"Well, you know the best written things are the ones we write just for ourselves," he told her as he moved closer to her.

"Do you wanna dance?" she asked, knowing that she'd most likely never see this guy ever again and if she made a fool of herself it probably wouldn't matter. He took her hand and as they slowly moved around the room, Karen began to sing along to the song a slight giddy smile on her face. 

_And I'll be wearing white, when I come into your kingdom  
I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger,  
I've never known the lovin' of a man  
But it sure felt nice when he was holdin' my hand,  
There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever,  
Who would have thought forever could be severed by...  
_

Quite suddenly she found her face to be inches away from his as they danced and in the heat of the moment she brought it even closer to the point where their lips touched and Karen wrapped her arms around his neck and quickly they were in the middle of a heavy make out session.


	2. Don't Trust Me

Ivy stood in front of one of the many mirrors featured in the Davenport Mall. Her much more svelte figure looked amazing especially when combined with the Marc Jacobs sunglasses she planned to steal. "Hey Ivy what do you think of this?" a voice asked from behind her, she turned around to see her friend Ellis Boyd who was wearing a black suit jacket

"Ellis if you want to look like your dad then that's the jacket to wear," she said with a haughty laugh.

"Okay, okay I get it, too business," Ellis said returning the laughter.

Up on the floor above Ivy was able to see Jessica who was, _miraculously, _looking at clothes. "I'll be right back," she said with a flirtatious smile to the sales assistant and walked up the escalator "Jessica Foster? You actually have time to shop? What with the internship at that law firm and all the extra classes at Davenport U as well as the continuous SAT studying _and _those occasional tweets I'm surprised you even have time to _sleep_," Ivy said making both girls laugh.

"I'm shopping out of neccessity Ivy, Philippa is coming home tomorrow and she's bringing her new fiance so I have to wear something new," Jessica replied as she picked up a crisp, white blouse off the rack and went around to the nearest shop assistant – thankfully it wasn't the same one who'd allowed Ivy to try on the sunglasses – and went to buy it.

"Well in that case, I can't let you wear that plain blouse then," Ivy said before going through the racks and picking out a one shoulder blue dress "Wear this, Philippa shouldn't get all of the limelight," she all but ordered.

"Okay, did... did you see the paper this morning?" the dirty blonde asked.

"Yeah, a year on and she still commands attention," Ivy replied, brushing a stray platinum blonde hair behind her ear.

"Do you remember how Daisy always used to say that it was our secrets that kept us close?" Jessica asked the girl she'd once considered to be one of her closest friends and Ivy nodded her affirmation "I'm starting to think that it's the reverse, anyway I'm sure Ellis is waiting for you and I'm going to have to rush off," Jessica said quickly paying for the dress and rushing off, Ivy had a feeling that the subject of Daisy's disappearance was still sore with Jessica for some reason, what that reason was Ivy didn't know.

Ivy strutted down the escalator and past the security guard who was quite clearly staring at her now toned butt. "Excuse me Miss," she heard and turned to see the security guard.

"Crap," she exclaimed under her breath.

"Umm, you left your bag at the desk," he said as he handed her the large cream leather bag she'd entered the store with.

"Thanks," she said politely, inwardly breathing a deep sigh of relief.

Ellis came out from around a corner "Thank god, I thought I was going to have to call your mum and tell her you'd been arrested and I do not want to have to face her wrath if I can avoid it,"

"Puh-lease, my mum is like a kitten," Ivy told her very gay friend with an attitude that was all her own.

"Until she gets her claws out that is," Ellis said before roaring like a Tiger to insinuate Leigh Conroy's famously bitchy behaviour when something went wrong.

The next morning was the first day of school and Roger Cartwright had taken it upon himself to drop his two daughters off at school, even though he very well knew that Karen could drive herself and Caroline. The youngest of the two daughters rushed out of the car in her brand new cheerleaders uniform having discovered that she was on the team and not wanting to dispell the stereotype "Bye daddy," Caroline said as she exited the vehicle leaving Karen alone with her father.

"Hey," he said as Karen tried to escape the car.

"Dad it's the first day of school, you _know _that I can't be late," she said politely.

"You know that I love you right Karen?" her father asked the sound of doubt audible in his tone of voice.

"Yeah, you've told me everyday since before I can remember," she said if only to have her father get off her back.

"And... you know that I have and will always love your mother right?"

"Do you? Because if you did I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have slept with that skank Keira or whatever the hell her name was," Karen replied, her tone an unfamiliar form of unforgiving.

"Karen I made a mistake and I'm sorry and I will be for every day of the rest of my life, just please _consider _forgiving me," he pleaded.

"Maybe I will or maybe I won't that's my decision," Karen said, leaving the car and walking into the school grounds. As her father drove off, seeing the back of his car reminded her of how she had discovered her father's affair.

_Flashback, a year and a half earlier_

"_Karen, Daisy wait up!" a male voice yelled as the two girls tried to hurry off away from her, desperate to avoid the social pariah that was Ellis Boyd._

"_Can't he just get a clue?" Daisy said as she dragged Karen into an alleyway that hid the back of some of the more exclusive houses in Davenport, Karen turned around for a couple of seconds, feeling slightly guilty as Ellis turned folding his arms across his chest and walking in the opposite direction, his head hanging low. She turned back around and ran off with Daisy "Isn't that your dad's car?" Daisy pointed out as Karen eventually caught up to the firey redhead._

"_No, it can't be," Karen said before her face turned to disgust as she saw her father, who she had admired for the entire fifteen years of her life, making out in the back seat of his car with a trampy looking blonde. _

* * *

"Karen?" came Ana's voice as she walked up behind her formerly close friend.

"Ana, hi," she said, quickly plastering a smile on her face.

"When did you get back?" Ana asked as she went to hug the brunette.

"Umm, yesterday actually I was going to call you but we spent forever unpacking and..." she lied remembering sitting in her car considering ringing each of the girls.

"Sure you were, I could have sworn the last time I saw you you had pink streaks in your hair,"

"Ah well Paris did me some good then, here I got you something," Karen said rummaging through her bag until she found the snowglobe with the Eiffel Tower she'd gotten just for Ana.

"Oh my god, it's gorgeous," Ana exclaimed, bringing Karen in for another hug.

"Yeah, well I remembered your little collection of snowglobes and this just seemed so you, you know," she said glad that one of her old friends was talking to her.

"Aw that's so sweet, what class have you got first?" Ana asked.

"Umm... Drama with Mr Wills," Karen stated having remembered her timetable back to front, upside down and any other which way possible.

"Great, you'll be with me," Ana exclaimed happily "I hear he's really hot,"

They entered the classroom and sat down on the floor in the edge of the room, that was one of the things that Karen liked about Drama, she didn't have to sit in a desk all day. Not long after Karen and Ana had entered, Ivy strutted in, wearing a Royal Blue sundress with barely there spaghetti straps, shadowed by Ellis. To say Karen was shocked by Ivy's newfound confidence and overall look was an understatement "That can't be Ivy can it?" Karen said to Ana.

"She's become the new it girl," Ana said "And where Ivy goes so does Ellis,"

"Holy crap! _That's _Ellis? As in Ellis Boyd, the same Ellis Boyd we used to take the piss out of for years," Karen almost yelled incredulously

"The one and only, he came out six months ago and ever since then he and Ivy haven't been more than two feet apart," Ana explained "Apparently having a gay best friend has it's advantages,"

Karen attempted a wave at Ivy but was ignored "Did something happen between you two?" she asked, feeling slightly confused.

"You weren't the only one we fell out of touch with after Daisy disappeared, we all fell out of touch with each other," Ana explained. Just then, Jessica walked into the classroom and Ivy looked to her but did nothing more "They don't really talk much either,"

"So... they're friendly with each other but not exactly friends?" Karen assumed aloud, to which Ana nodded in confirmation.

The teacher, the elusive Mr Wills, walked into the classroom, wrote his name on the whiteboard and turned to face the class, but upon seeing Karen, he said "Bugger!" loud enough for the class to hear and everyone, everyone turned to face Karen who was looking down at something on the plush, relatively new carpet. She looked up and realisation hit her – the new teacher, Mr Wills, was the very same man that she had made out with in the dive bar the previous afternoon.

Luckily for Karen's sake, her phone went off and she took it out of her pocket to see who might be texting her at such an inappropriate time "Sorry, I'll just find out who this is and tell them where to go, merci," she said before covering her mouth, she'd hoped that once she was back in Davenport her tendency to flit in and out of speaking French in front of Americans or English people would have stopped – obviously that wasn't to be.

She opened the message which had come from an unknown number and read:

**Maybe he makes out with all of his female students, an awful lotof teachers do. Just ask your dad.**

**D**

'Daisy?' she thought to herself as a look of horror, which she desperately tried to disguise, spread across her face.


	3. Pumped Up Kicks

Ana sat in the kitchen doing her homework, like she did everyday after dance practise, the one thing that had stayed routine in her life over the previous year was that. "There's a new family moving into the Parkers' house today, why don't you go and say hi?" Maria Vargas suggested to her daughter.

"I can't believe they sold the house," Ana said as she got up to pour herself a glass of orange juice only just noticing the hamper her mother had prepared for _someone _to take to the new neighbours.

"Well, I suppose there were just too many memories for them, I can't even _begin _to imagine what they must be going through what they must have gone through, losing a child like that... it goes without saying doesn't it?"

"I know, it's just weird to... to think of other people living in what I knew as Daisy's house you know? Karen's back by the way," Ana said as a quick change of subject.

"Are those hideous pink streaks still in her hair?" Maria asked her daughter, remembering just how much she hadn't wanted her daughter hanging around someone who would do that to her hair.

"No, she's actually cut it into a bob, Parisian hairstylists did her good," Ana replied with a slight laugh, it felt weird to be talking about her friend's hair in such a disapproving way.

"I never understood how on earth Elizabeth could let her daughter do something like that to her hair," Maria said, her disapproval moving onto the mother of the child knowing that Ana would defend Karen to the enth degree just as she had Daisy, Ivy and Jessica.

"Mr and Mrs Cartwright feel that their kids are equal to them instead of _beneath _them and if that includes letting Karen experiment with her hair then I don't see why that's such a big deal," Ana said rudely.

"Sweetie, I never thought that you were or are beneath me but I am your mother and what kind would I be if I allowed you to run around with _pink streaks _in your hair like some sort of emotionally unstable weirdo? That stuff might seem awesome in Paris but here in Davenport, you know that it's frowned upon,"

"Yeah but not everyone wants to stay in Davenport for the rest of their lives mum," Ana pointed out tired of the argument "Some of us _want _to leave this suburban hellhole," she continued under her breath.

As Ana approached the Parkers' old house, the first thing she saw was the Max Advantage Realty sign with the word SOLD plastered across it 'Typical of Lauren Parker to use the best realtor in town' was all Ana could think as she approached the house taking a deep breath as she did. Out on the strip of grass where the trash would normally be placed on a Monday morning was a tonne of stuff which Ana recognised as being Daisy's. The movers were quickly taking furniture into the house, it was plain and white and boring, the complete opposite of what Ana was used to seeing in the house. When Daisy was there _everything, _all of the furniture, the paintings, the photos, absolutely everything was vibrant and full of colour just like Daisy had been. Ana looked down at all of Daisy's stuff that had been tossed out on the front lawn and noticed a medal, the one she had given to Daisy after winning Bronze at the National Contemporary Ballet Competition the year before Daisy had disappeared. She gently picked it up and wrapped the ribbon around her hand "You want that?" a female voice she didn't recognize asked. Ana quickly turned around to see who had asked the question and saw a pretty young girl with chocolate brown skin that matched her chocolate brown shoulder length locks "Sue Maguire, the new girl," she said before Ana even had a chance to say anything.

"I'm Ana, my mum asked me to drop this round to you guys to say welcome to the neighbourhood," Ana said as she handed over the hamper she'd had a hold of since agreeing to meet the new neighbours.

"Thanks," Sue replied before rifling through the basket "Hmm, Caviar and Rose Water my favourite," she said sarcastically.

"Sorry, when you're the only Latin American family in this town expectations have to be upheld even if that means that your mother doesn't even recognise a can of soup," Ana said jokingly.

"You can have any of that stuff if you want it," Sue suggested politely.

"I-It all belonged to Daisy," Ana said numbly.

"Is-is she a friend of yours?"

"She was before..." Ana trailed off unable to find the words to say to finish her sentence.

"That's all you're going to give me? No saucy details or sex scandals?"

"There were five of us who used to hang out together: Me, Daisy, Karen, Ivy and Jessica but I don't think you really want to know the rest," Ana said desperately trying to avoid the subject of Daisy and her disappearance.

"Would it be really terrible of me to ask you to help me move some of my stuff?" Sue asked sensing Ana's dislike of the idea of talking further on the subject.

"Not at all," Ana replied, realising that it would be a brilliant excuse to come and see what the new girl had done to Daisy's room.

The pair of them walked into the room with two boxes each and placed them on the floor Ana noticed the change in the room; where Daisy had kept it vibrant, Sue seemed to have made it minimalistic with touches of red in the curtains and headboard of the bed. She noticed posters on the wall which showed something completely different to what Daisy had. Daisy had kept posters of Broadway shows on her walls things like My Fair Lady, Funny Girl, Wicked and Chicago. The new girl kept posters of bands like Paramore, The Pretty Reckless and Vampire Weekend"So why don't you want to talk about this Daisy chick?" Sue asked suddenly.

"You do seem to ask a lot of questions don't you?" Ana asked, suddenly embarrassed.

"Well how else would I get to know anyone?" Sue pointed out cheekily.

"There you go again,"

"Okay ask me something, anything,"

Ana looked around the room for anything that might give her a question to ask. She spotted a lone framed photograph of a guy with blonde hair and blue eyes on a dressing table "Is this your boyfriend?" she asked casually as she picked it up.

"No, it's my gay BFF," Sue replied laughing "Yes, he is my boyfriend," she said seriously.

"He's cute," Ana said kindly.

"Yeah and he's also thousands of miles away in Boston," Sue said snarkily "What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"

"I do, his name is Aaron and he's a dancer like me, the only straight one on our team at school come to think of it he's really sweet and kind," she said but there was a niggling little feeling of doubt in the back of her mind that made her question whether she really loved Aaron or whether it was just some sort of fling that would fizzle.


	4. Just A Kiss

_**A/N – Happy Halloween everyone, not gonna lie my plan was to have this up earlier but I was roped into going to a Halloween party at my grandparents so I had to do a really quick change and find my 1960s outfit rather than wear the Marilyn Monroe outfit I had planned for my friend's party on Friday. **_

Philippa Foster had just finished examining her sister's redecoration of their family barn; it no longer looked like a barn now it looked like a home. She had to admit that Jessica really was an amazing interior designer on this project, it was too bad that she'd have to take it from her, if only for just a few months "It's amazing, I'm surprised, you really do have an eye for this sort of thing," Philippa said to Jessica as they walked out of the barn.

"Well... thanks," Jessica replied, shocked that her older sister even had the ability to pay a compliment, well to _her _at least.

"When mum said that you were redesigning the barn so that it could act as a cottage, I was surprised, I didn't know how it would work, _whether _it would work, but now I get it, you've done an amazing job," Philippa continued, making Jessica just a little bit suspicious, Philippa never went this overboard with compliments unless she wanted something – Jessica was pretty sure that it was the reason why Philippa got into Harvard and Yale and NYU _and _Colombia.

"Thanks,"

"Which is _why _I am so thankful that you're letting Jude and I stay here for the next couple of months," there it was the clincher, the reason why Philippa had been so _overly _kind about the barn conversion that Jessica had worked her ass off – metaphorically speaking that is – to finish so that she could stay there during her Junior and Senior years of high school, just as Philippa had before her.

"I'm sorry I think I just hallucinated, could you repeat that?"

"Jude and I. Are moving in. To the barn," Philippa said as though Jessica were some kind of 16-year-old imbecile who hadn't yet learnt to read.

"Says who?"

"Mum, she said that Jude and I could stay here while my place in Philadelphia is getting redone,"

"Oh no, that is _not _happening! Mum, Dad and I have the same agreement that you and them had. I do up the barn to my satisfaction _and _get good grades and I get to live in the barn for Junior and Senior year, I gave up _everything _so that I could get this," Jessica exclaimed, considering throwing a massive tantrum, just like a two-year-old would, to get her own way.

"I guess you'll just have to wait then _won't _you?" Philippa said continuing her patronising tone from earlier.

"Why can't you stay in my room or better yet your own room?" Jessica argued, pointing out the simple flaw in Philippa's plan.

"Because both rooms only have a twin bed,"

Suddenly a dark haired man in a typical preppy outfit, complete with the shoes that had been scuffed to the exact appropriate amount of scuffing – Jessica could have sworn that he had some sort of consulting team working on that -, walked out of the house "Is everything okay? I'm Jude by the way," he asked in a thick British accent, putting his hand out for Jessica to shake.

"Oh yeah, everything's just fine and dandy, Philippa gets exactly what she wants and I get squat, just like old times," Jessica said bitterly as she turned to go back into her parents house.

A couple of hours later, Jessica sat out on the deck reading her well thumbed copy of Truman Capote's Breakfast At Tiffany's, something she read everytime Philippa had pissed her off, which happened a lot – hence the reason it was so well thumbed – she noticed Jude stubbing out a cigarette and said "Shouldn't you know better than to smoke, I mean from what I hear your top of your class at your med school, or was that a little bit of a lie?"

"You're a bit of a smart arse aren't you?" he said with a chuckle.

"Does my sister know you smoke? 'Cause if I recall correctly that's kind of a deal breaker in her book,"

"Does Philippa have to know everything?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well you are getting married and if I recall correctly part of marriage is knowing everything about one another so..."

"Sorry about the whole barn situation, I could say something..."

"Nothing you say will make a difference, like I said earlier, Philippa _always _gets what she wants even if it costs everyone else, _particularly _me" Jessica confided bitterly.

"Has anyone ever mentioned to her that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?"

"How about _you _try telling her that and see what reaction you get?" Jessica told him "Sorry, that was rude, _you're _not at all like Philippa's boyfriends, normally they're American, stuck up and complete and utter dicks but _you, _you're something else – I actually like you," she said flirtatiously as she walked into her parents' unusually large dining room.

The next morning, just before English, Karen made the decision to see 'Mr Wills' before Drama started under the guise of a homework assignment. She had pinned her hair back into a loose bun and had decided to wear an exceptionally short skirt which, strangely enough, her parents didn't seem to have a problem with. She rapped lightly on the door and when he looked up she entered the room, a sweet smile on her face. "You told me you went to Davenport University," he said, a slightly annoyed pinch in his tone of voice.

"I think you _assumed _that because I said that I was thinking of majoring in Drama or Music, which is true by the way," she said as she moved ever closer to him.

"Look, when I first met you, I asked myself who is this amazing, intelligent, beautiful girl? And when we started dancing to that song, and you started to sing along to that song, I thought wow she is _really _talented, how was I lucky enough to meet her?" he said, watching Karen's eyes stare intently into his, with a look of real and total adoration as he said it. But he knew for a fact that he had to let her go, it was the responsible and adult thing to do, he was forced to remind himself.

She put her hand on his, gently and they were both reminded of the instantanious spark they'd felt when they first met "I'm still that girl," she prompted him "Nothing's changed,"

"Yes it has, I'm your teacher, it's unethical,"

"It's only unethical if you let it be and I know that I'm not the only one who feels this way, you feel it too don't you?" she said with raised eyebrows, this was one of the _very few and limited _times that she would ever beg for a man's – or boy's – affections.

"But it _is _wrong and unethical and I just can't do this," he said as he got up to leave the classroom leaving Karen stood singular and alone at his desk in the empty classroom, a single tear slid down her cheek but she was desperate to hold any others in lest her mascara and eyeliner run.

That afternoon, Ana and Sue walked home, hand in hand, something that she had only done with two people – Aaron and Daisy - "Thanks for walking me home," Sue said with a dainty little smile on her face.

"It's fine, dance isn't for another couple of hours anyway and I've still gotta get my stuff from the house anyway," Ana said politely.

"I've never had a jock stroke performing arts friend before, I'd suppose that makes you my first," Sue said and both girls giggled at the thought. As they reached Sue's house, Ana noticed two rubbish collectors tossing all of Daisy's stuff into the crusher part of their truck and Ana felt compelled to stop in the middle of the pathway. Sue turned to her and said "You okay?"

"It's hard to explain, I didn't tell you everything about Daisy... she disappeared last summer and she's... she's still missing,"

"That must have been terrible," Sue said as they approached her new house/Daisy's old one.

"I was under the impression that if I... if I didn't talk about her then the thought of her wouldn't... wouldn't spring into my mind. Oh how wrong I was,"

"I'm sorry," Sue said and both girls leaned in for a kiss then immediately recoiled "Bye,"

"Bye," Ana said as Sue ran up the steps into what was now her house.

A few hours later, Ana was in the changing rooms of her dance academy, having just gotten a shower after what, she had to admit, was a pretty intense piece of choreography. She quickly walked over to her locker and discovered Jessica changing out of her ballet gear. Jessica had taken up ballet so that she had some sort of stress outlet that didn't involve hitting her sister's head with a hockey stick – which she'd gotten close to doing numerous times - "Have you been hanging out with Karen lately?" the dirty blonde asked her sort of friend.

"Yeah, sort of," Ana replied as she opened her locker to find a note, expecting it to be from Aaron, she opened it and began to read:

**Hey Ans!**

**You've replaced me, guess it wasn't that difficult to find another girl to kiss!**

**D**

Ana looked away from the piece of paper and tried her hardest not to look shocked, annoyed or even both as Jessica turned to face her "Ana, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, why on earth wouldn't it be," Ana replied, trying to attempt a smile as she threw the note in the trash.


	5. Bravado

_**A/N – So before I start this chapter, I have to say a big congratulations to Megan Hilty, although I'm 90% sure she'll never read this, on her recent marriage to Brian Gallagher! **_

Jessica stood in her parents' kitchen, about to grab some orange juice, in her favourite Red bikini, her shoulder-length hair up in an unusually – for her that is – messy bun with a towel slung over her shoulder, planning to get into the family hot tub after a long and grueling ballet class "Perfect time for a spa," she heard a familiar British accent from behind her.

Turning to see who it was she saw her soon-to-be-brother-in-law stood before her in nothing but a pair of board shorts "I-I thought that you and Philippa w-weren't moving in until next week?" she questioned nervously as she put her hand on her shoulder. She hated being nervous around people, namely because it was such a rare occurrence. She was a Foster and Fosters didn't nor will they ever get nervous.

"Your sister wanted to move in _before _classes start, that way she's all prepped as she put it," Jude told her politely, although it was clear that he was slightly annoyed by the prospect of moving in early "Do you, by any chance, have a towel?" he asked casually changing the subject. Jessica just chucked the one she'd flung over her shoulder to him which he caught with expert precision and then proceeded to dry himself off with as Jessica began to roll her shoulder backwards to see if it would stop the pain she had been experiencing in it since her class had ended "Rough day at school?" Jude asked, a kind look in his eyes.

"Not really, just spent an hour at ballet trying to nail a complex dance routine and it kinda screwed up my shoulder," she explained.

"Really? I did a bit of dance myself as a kid," he said casually.

"Well that looks good on an application for university and/or med school," she told him sarcastically.

"Mum forced me into it and if you _must _know it did help to earn me a scholarship to Oxford," he said as he looked into her eyes for a few seconds "You've probably got a build up of fluid in your bursar sac," he said as he walked around to the back of her and began to massage her shoulder with his strong yet gentle hands.

"I'll guess that you say that to all of your patients," she said, continuing her sarcastic manner.

"Trust me, this will help,"

"Okay, Dr Jude," she said sarcastically and as his hands massaged further into what was causing the shoulder pain, releasing all tension in her body she sighed and said "That's amazing," with a smile.

"Jude?" came Philippa's voice and Jessica forced herself away from her sister's fiancee and dashed off to the hot tub, a relaxed smile on her face. "Who were you talking to?" Philippa asked as she walked into the kitchen laden with several shopping bags.

"Just - " he stopped to turn around and see where Jessica had gotten to, unable to see her he continued "No-one,"

"Found them," Elizabeth Cartwright called to her husband upon finding the wine glasses she'd spent the past half hour looking for. She walked towards Roger, who had a bottle of wine in his hand, and placed the two glasses on the small coffee table that sat in front of their cream leather couch "And look what else I managed to find," she continued, picking up her eldest daughter's stuffed dog that had been dubbed Belle after the young girl's favourite Disney princess.

"Oh my god, she used to carry that thing all over the place," Roger replied, shocked to see that the dog still existed and yet completely unaware that there had been a time when Karen had turned to the toy for romantic advice, not that any of it had ever worked, the plans that she and Belle came up with together were always too far-fetched to ever work in reality "I get the feeling that you're happy to be back,"

"And you aren't?" Elizabeth asked her husband with a giggle.

"I'm... not quite sure yet,"

"God, I think Karen's feeling the same way, the two of you are so similar,"

"Well, for her Paris must have been like a holiday away from reality I suppose, now she's back here and she's the girl who knew Daisy. I mean we were all so close while we were in Paris, I'm just wondering whether being back in Davenport is going to get in the way of that," Roger said, a reflective look in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked, feeling slightly confused.

"You know I'm rather shocked that Karen took Belle with us," Roger said quickly changing the subject to something a bit more pleasant.

"Don't change the subject Roger, what on earth could get in the way of this family?" Elizabeth asked firmly.

"It's nothing, just it's a small town and the whole Daisy thing is circulating again and I don't want that to mean that we end up torn apart," Roger recovered quickly, completely unwilling to tell his wife about his short lived affair with Keira "Just ignore me, I'm just overanalysing things like I do," he lied again pulling his wife into him "We're going to be fine Beth, we'll be fine," he continued.

She put her hand on his chest as she rested her head on his shoulder and said "I tell you what I didn't miss, driving past the Parker house,"

"God, it's been a year, can you imagine what that family is going through? Just think it could have been Karen or any of the other girls," he said.

"No I can't and I don't ever want to have to experience it or imagine it," she told him "God if anything were to happen to you or the girls..."

She couldn't finish the sentence because Roger interrupted her saying "Nothing will happen, I'll make sure of that. We're fine and we're home," he said before kissing her forehead quite happy to just stay like that forever.

Back at the Foster house, Jessica lay on her bed working on the homework assignment she had for drama – the class had been told to memorize a monologue from their favourite play and she could already guarantee what everyone else would be doing: Karen would pick something by Tenessee Williams or West Side Story, depending on what mood she was in ; Ana would choose Romeo and Juliet; Ivy probably had Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf down pat so Jessica had decided on Pygmalion the ultimate tale of the Ugly Duckling. It spoke to the version of herself that she had been before Daisy, very geeky but with the potential of being someone really pretty. So she lay on her bed reading the copy she had been given by her father when she was nine, she planned to learn the entirety of Eliza's monologue about how much of a cruel tyrant Professor Higgins was, she began "Oh you are a cruel tyrant..." but found herself interrupted by the giggles of her sister and Jude coming from the barn. "Does she _have _to be so loud that I can hear her from my bedroom?" she asked herself before walking to the window. She looked out to see Philippa and Jude on the front doorstep of the barn laughing before turning it into a full on make-out festival. She quickly turned away when her laptop beeped, telling her that she had an e-mail expecting it to be from one of the guys she worked with on student council, she opened it.

**Another one of Philippa's boyfriend's to obsess over. **

**Just remember Jess, if you kiss I WILL tell**

**-D**

The whole note reminded Jessica of a scene from a year and a half earlier, at least, when Daisy had caught her obsessing over Philippa's last boyfriend, Seth.

_Jessica, Daisy and Ivy walked into the Fosters' kitchen after a spa, Ivy immediately picked up a chocolate chip cookie, feeling an immediate need for food "Are you _sure _you should eat that?" Daisy said patronisingly._

"_Leave her alone Daisy, if she wants to eat it she should," Jessica retorted quickly, it was rare when she and Daisy weren't at odds over one thing or another._

"_I'm just trying to be a good friend," Daisy replied feigning innocence._

_Philippa walked in to the kitchen, her fingers entwined with Seth's "Aren't you three supposed to be at Daisy's?" Philippa pointed out rudely, clearly she had hoped for some private time with her boyfriend._

"_Hey Jess, did you still need some help with that story for the school newspaper I've got my camera in the car," Seth said politely._

"_Seth!" Philippa exlaimed, clearly outraged by the suggestion as she walked towards her room._

"_You _need _to tell her," Daisy said to Jessica, clearly hinting at something._

"_Tell me what?" Philippa asked, intrigued by what Daisy might know about her little sister._

_Everyone looked to Jessica with raised eyebrows, some for different reasons than others "Nothing, just that we thought your hair looked really good today and we were wondering what you did with it," Jessica said with a quick recovery._

"_Okay, well I started using this new shampoo by Tresemme anyway Seth and I are going to head off to my room, if mum and dad come in early don't tell them where we are," Philippa said with a smile before dragging Seth up the stairs to her room._

_Once she knew that Philippa and Seth were _definitely _in Philippa's room Jessica firmly said "Outside," to Daisy and dragged her out there, shutting the door behind her so that Ivy might not hear and blabbermouth to Philippa as she had once done before "What was that?" she asked pointing to the door in her rage._

"_She _will _find out eventually," Daisy said flippantly._

"_No she won't, both Seth and I have _too much _to lose if either of us tell her," she replied._

"_I promise you she _will, _because honey, if you don't tell her, then I _will," _Daisy said, a vindictive smirk starting to appear on her face._

"_You're supposed to be my friend,"_

"_Don't you understand? This is an _attempt _to help you do the right thing," Daisy said as she turned to walk towards her own house._

"_It was _one _freaking kiss Daisy!" Jessica yelled after her before instinctively grabbing her arms "You had better not tell her," she said viciously._

"_Or _what_?" _

"_Or I will tell _everyone _about the Emily thing," she said in a vicous manner, letting go of Daisy's arm so that the red head could walk away._

Jessica stopped looking at the screen for a moment, a little scared of the possibility of Philippa finding out. She looked out of her bedroom window which gave her a direct view of what used to be the Parker house. She could have sworn she saw Daisy's figure and firey red hair in one of the windows "Daisy?" she whispered to herself as the figure disappeared out of sight.


End file.
